Fueled by a sharp decline in Scranton, overall voter turnout in Lackawanna County for the primary election Tuesday was down from a comparable election four years ago, despite major ballot questions and a hotly contested city mayoral race, unofficial election results show.

The decline puzzled political observers who expected an upward bump in turnout, especially because of five county government-related ballot questions, which gave third-party and unaffiliated voters the rare opportunity of something to vote for in the primary.

"That blows my mind," county recorder of deeds Evie Rafalko McNulty said. "I just thought because of so many contested races and the ballot questions, people would be coming out."

Observers attributed the decline to various reasons, the main ones being weather that was too hot and humid for many senior citizens and apathy among Scranton voters skeptical that anyone can fix the city's financial mess.

In 2009, the last time the city mayor and a county judgeship were on the ballot at the same time, only Democrats and Republicans could vote in the primary because there were no ballot questions.

Countywide, 41.45 percent of Democrats turned out then and 26.5 percent of Republicans. Combined, their turnout was 37.09 percent.

On Tuesday, voters had contested races on both sides of the ballot in the Scranton mayor's race and for a county judgeship, but also the county government ballot questions. One question asked whether to study the structure of county government and perhaps recommend a change. The others were separate questions on eliminating election of the sheriff, register of wills, recorder of deeds and clerk of judicial records.

The Tuesday figures could rise slightly during the county's official count that starts Friday, but the increase will likely be far smaller than necessary to make up the difference from 2009.

Insurance executive Chuck Volpe, who fathered and promoted the government study push, Mrs. McNulty and several others attributed the decline in turnout to the weather. Normally, as conventional political thinking goes, good weather encourages voting, but Mr. Volpe said it was too hot and humid. The high temperature Tuesday was 89 degrees and it was humid.

"Older people are afraid to come out in that kind of heat. ... (A) 2 or 3 percent (drop in turnout,) I think the weather could have contributed to that," Mr. Volpe said. "I was out there, I changed suits twice, soaked through my shirt. I was at one poll standing for only 20 minutes, it was that oppressive, that hot."

The day was hot and humid, but heat might have factored in less than location.

Scranton's voter turnout decline was sharper than the county overall, but Democratic, Republican and overall turnout were actually up outside the city.

In 2009, Democratic turnout in the county's 39 other municipalities was 38.43 percent, but 39.06 percent Tuesday. The Republican turnout rose from 25.14 percent in 2009 to 31.28 percent. Combined, turnout outside the city was up from 34.17 percent in 2009 to 36.63 percent on Tuesday.

The decline was large on the Republican side, too, with 25.15 percent voting in 2009 and only 18.93 percent on Tuesday. Mr. Courtright, who won the Democratic nomination, said he was surprised by the city's turnout decline, but could not explain it.

"I thought it was going to be the other way," he said.

Ms. Randol, the Democratic runner-up to Mr. Courtright, said the heat might have hurt turnout, but she worried the real reason was voter apathy, a trait she encountered on the campaign trail.

"A lot of people in general just said, 'I'm sick of all this. We need a change." But they don't know what the change should be so they threw up their hands, and said it can't be fixed," she said. "I think it (the low turnout) hurt me a lot. We knew going in that it was going to be about getting out the vote, but there's only so much you can do."

Councilman Pat Rogan, who won a Democratic nomination Tuesday, said the weather and the apathy Ms. Randol described might have played a role, but said less money was spent on advertising this time because Mr. Doherty wasn't running and the lack of his polarizing presence contributed, too.

For example, Mr. Doherty and Mr. DiBileo spent more than $410,000 in the first four months of 2009 compared to about $135,000 by Ms. Randol and Mr. Courtright during the same period this year.

"The mayor certain drove turnout either because of supporters of the mayor or people who disliked his policies," Mr. Goran said.

All the ballot questions did almost nothing to attract third-party and independent voters to the polls, despite the opportunity. Only 723, or 5.65 percent, showed up to vote, according to unofficial figures.

Mr. Volpe blamed himself for failing to do enough to attract those voters.

"Clearly, they're not used to voting in the primary," he said.

In other election-related matters:

- County director of elections Marion Medalis said the official vote count will begin Friday at 9 a.m. with counters starting with write-in votes. One group of counters will focus strictly on the city, the other on the rest of the county.

- Kevin J. Mulhern swept the Republican and Democratic nominations for Lackawanna Trail school director in Region 1, which includes Clinton and Nicholson townships and Nicholson Borough. Mr. Mulhern defeated Albert W. Olive by 99 to 47 votes for the Democratic nomination and by 185 to 85 for the Democratic nomination.

The results were unavailable Tuesday evening.

- Taylor council candidate Chuck McKeel, a Democrat, received 592 votes in the primary election, according to unofficial results. The race was uncontested.

Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com

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